Noun

(en noun)

roving vagabond; one who roams

:* {{quote-book

, year=1947 , year_published=2006 , edition=digitized , editor= , author=Thomas Bertram Costain , title=The Moneyman , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=Doubleday , isbn= , page=57 , passage=I'm delighted to see you. You're as brown, my gadling , as though you had returned from another journey to the East with Jean de Village. }}

A man of humble condition; a fellow; a low fellow; lowborn; originally comrade or companion, in a good sense, but later used in reproach

:* {{quote-book

, year=1906 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Rudyard Kipling , title=Puck of Pook's Hill , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page=96 , passage=“Pest on him!” said De Aquila. “I have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the King sends. Left he no word?” }}

A spike on a gauntlet; a gad.